FATAL PHOTOGRAPH.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9079, 20 February 1908, Page 7

FATAL PHOTOGRAPH.

FAITHLESS FRENCHMAN SHOT BY ‘ENGLISH WIFE. ; Mme. Margry, the Englishwoman who in a fit of passionate jealousy shot her French husband dead on the Boulevard des Italiens in July last, was placed upon her trial for murder at the Paris assizes, with the result that she was acquitted by a sympathetic jury. Mme. Margry’s maiden name was Schoolbred, and she was born near London. Her husband kept a small dyer’s shop in the Rue St. Apolline. Early this year it came to her knowledge that the|deceased man had been guilty of misconduct with a girl employed in his workshop.*? There was a scene, but her husband, v.ho admitted his infidelity, promised to make amends and break off the attachment.

In July last, however, he went on a holiday to Fontainebleau, [the girl accompanying him, while the unsuspecting wife remained in Paris. At Fontainebleau Margry introduced his companion as his wife, and the pair were’photographed together. The erring husband, however, by an oversight left with the photographer a card bearing his Paris address, and the incriminating pictures were sent to his shop. Here they fell into the hands of the real wife. She, mad with anger, put the photographs in her handbag together wtih a loaded revolver, and started in quest of her husband, who had returned from his holidays. Encountering Margry on the Boulevard des Italiens, she pulled out the photographs from her bag and taxed him with his guilt. Seeing that denials were useless in view of such overflowing proofs, he admitted that he had been unfaithful, and, becoming angry, announced that he would see the girl as often as he pleased. This answer maddened Mme. Margry who thereupon drew her revolver and shot her husband through the heart.

The prisoner appeared in Court dressed in mourning. She admitted her crime, but pleaded that it was not premediated. She said that she usually carried a revolver for her own safety, as she lived in an unfrequented suburb. On hearing her husband’s cynical reply she lost control of herself, and, scarcely conscious of what she did, she fired upon him. The jury, who throughout showed themselves very sympathetic towards the wronged wife, returned a verdict of not guilty, and Mme. Margry, amidst the applause of a crowded Court, was^disoharged.